Trigg County, Kentucky · Cadiz
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Cadiz and Cerulean. Start the steps below while you wait.
Answered 24/7 by a participating local provider. We're a referral service and don't do the work ourselves. How it works
Start here
Pick the closest match. These steps limit the damage and protect your insurance claim. Skip anything that isn't safe.
Trigg County averages 14 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly December to February, and 12% of its homes predate 1960.
February brings the most downpours to Trigg County, part of 13.2 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
12% of homes here predate 1960, when clay and cast iron sewer laterals were standard. Roots and cracks in those lines are a common cause of backups.
In Trigg County, 4.91 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
28% of occupied homes in Trigg County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Kentucky county median of 12.6%.
With 87 muggy nights a year, mold in Trigg County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Trigg County covers 441 square miles of southwest Kentucky, with about 14,315 residents and 7,652 homes. Besides Cadiz, the county seat, the biggest community is Cerulean. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1985.
38/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Trigg County ranks 97 of 120 Kentucky counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Trigg County ranks highest compared with other Kentucky counties.
Trigg County is milder than most of Kentucky, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. From 2015–2024 it averaged 14 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 66 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 113th of 120 counties.
The longest cold spell was straight 8 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in January 2018. The coldest night reached about -3°F on December 23, 2022. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs December to February. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 7 and the last spring freeze around Mar 29.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Kentucky. Of roughly 53.1 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 13.2 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 35th of 120. February, March and July see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 4.91 inches, July 7, 2016. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 6.44 inches (through July 7, 2016).
About 58 days a year swing from below freezing at night to above freezing by day. Those freeze-thaw cycles feed ice dams on roofs, open cracks in foundations and driveways, and stress pipes that are already marginal.
Housing
42% of homes in Trigg County predate 1980, close to the Kentucky county median of 44.1%, which ranks 70th of Kentucky's 120 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 12% of homes are pre-1960 and 25% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 33% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
Here 16% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
The Census counted 21% of homes as vacant, above the Kentucky county median of 13.2%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
About 87 nights a year in Trigg County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (9th of 120 counties). July is the wettest month. The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60%, ideally 30 to 50%. Basements can pass 60% on their own in summer, so a dehumidifier matters even without a leak, and anything wet should be dried within 24 to 48 hours.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Trigg County homes break down as 15% utility gas, 56% electric, 24% propane and 3% wood. Propane heat is above the Kentucky norm. Annual chimney and vent inspection, which the NFPA recommends, is one of the most effective fire-prevention habits for these homes.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Trigg County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Caldwell, Calloway, Lyon and Marshall get more pipe-freeze nights than Trigg. Caldwell County has the oldest housing nearby, with 60% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Trigg | Kentucky median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 12% | 18% | 98 of 120 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 42% | 44% | 70 of 120 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 25% | 25% | 54 of 120 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 16% | 19% | 68 of 120 |
| Vacant homes | 21% | 13% | 11 of 120 |
| Wood or propane heat | 28% | 13% | 15 of 120 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 14/yr | 20/yr | 113 of 120 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 13/yr | 12/yr | 35 of 120 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 58/yr | 73/yr | 112 of 120 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 87/yr | 59/yr | 9 of 120 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Kentucky county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Trigg County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in February, March and July.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024); weather from NOAA nClimGrid-Daily county averages (EpiNOAA), 2015–2024, averaged across the county; county boundaries from Census TIGER. Reviewed 2026-10-21. Methodology